By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A smile comes across the face of Maria Karipidis when she’s asked about her recent experiences on the pitch. The Honeoye-Falls Lima junior may need a minute, though, to get everything straight in her mind.
On Wednesday, Karipidis left Athens, Greece. Less than 24 hours later, she took the field with her teammates in Greece, New York. In between there were stops in Switzerland and Chicago before she arrived at the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport at 10 p.m. EST.
Three days after being on the field with U17 Greek National Team in scrimmages against Poland, the 5-foot-10 midfielder was helping the Cougars to a 3-1 win over Greece Arcadia.
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And the seven-hour time difference had its obvious effect.
“I’m pretty jet-lagged right now,” she said after Thursday’s match. “I’m surprised I got through the game. I can’t wait to get home and take a nice little sleep.”
The daughter of a first-generation immigrant from Greece, Karipidis was approached with the opportunity last spring to play internationally.
“A little bit before June I was invited to the tryouts in Greece,” she explained. “I finished the school year on Zoom while I was at the (training) sessions.”
In July, she learned of her spot on the team and last week was a trip overseas.
“It was our first time playing together,” Karipidis said of the contests against Poland. “Our first game was decent. We were just getting to know how to play together. The second game we did a lot better. We won a lot of defensive tackles and had a lot more shots on goal. I think we can build up the team from that.”
Mike Karipidis, Maria’s dad, is from Thessaloniki, Greece. He moved to the United States after high school. Maria’s mother, Irini, is a first-generation immigrant from the Ukraine. The opportunity for dual citizenship gives Maria the chance to play for her father’s homeland.
Maria Karipidis will be building up her frequent flyer miles in the coming months as she splits time between her school and the U17 Greek National Team.
She will be returning to Greece for three matches in early October as part of the qualifying tournament for the Euro Cup. They will play Denmark on October 6th and three days later versus Austria as well as an October 12th match with Switzerland.
Before that, HF-L hosts Pittsford Mendon on Saturday for a 6:30 p.m. start. The Cougars play at Irondequoit on Monday and Batavia, Wednesday before finishing the week with Greece Olympia.
She scored what ended up being the game winner against Arcadia, Thursday night. Teammate Izabela Woloszuk played a service from the left flag that Karipidis met in mid-air and redirected into the back of the net for her sixth marker of the season.
Moved the ad placement for a better view of the Izabela Woloszuk to Maria Karipidis combination on the corner kick. @HFLGirlsSoccer pic.twitter.com/GXzyLl8XmM
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 24, 2021
“She has very nice corner kicks,” Karipidis said of her teammate. “We were practicing those in the warmups. I knew it was going to come in the game. I started in the back of everybody. I saw it coming, and I just ran to it.”
Woloszuk also converted on a pair of free kick opportunities. The first of which Karipidis helped set up when she drew a penalty from just outside the 18-yard box.
“She is amazing with the free kicks.”
Izaabela Woloszuk tucks one under the bar from 25 yards out to give @HFLGirlsSoccer an early 1-nil lead. pic.twitter.com/e56NyIvXrD
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 23, 2021
Isabella Fedele scored the lone Arcadia goal.
Preparing for sectionals and competing on the world’s stage, that is the current balancing act of Maria Karipidis.
“It’s a great opportunity for her,” HF-L head coach Chrissy Merrill said. “I’m excited for her. I knew it was in the works. Her dad had mentioned it to me. I told her to ‘do what you got to do.’ We’d love to have you, but you got to take that if it comes to you.”
Along with building relationships with her new teammates and coaching staff, Karipidis is also learning how to combat long flights.
“There were a few empty rows, and I was able to move to one and lay down on it. That was nice.,” she said of her most recent trip. “I try to just sleep through the whole thing. I was tired. It was really long, and I didn’t have anything to do.”
She’s going to need to take advantage of all the rest she can get.
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